Ski binding

ABSTRACT

A ski safety binding comprises spring means for releasably holding the binding in a closed position, a screw for adjusting the force of the spring, and means for displaying the adjustment including two members movable relative to one another as a function of the setting of the screw, the first member covering the second member and being provided with a plurality of discrete openings, and the second member having a plurality of discrete color marks which are selectively visible through said openings in different relative positions of said members to provide indications representing the settings. Said openings include at least one row of a plurality of like openings aligned along the direction of relative movement of the members and said marks include at least one row of a plurality of marks aligned along said direction with said row of openings. Adjacent openings in said row are spaced apart by at least the length of an opening along said direction multiplied by the number or positions of said members each corresponding to an indication.

United States Patent lradlllon Feb. 11, 1975 SKI BINDING [57] ABSTRACT[75] Inventor: Michel Pradillon, Cluses, France A ski safety bindingcomprises spring means for re- I leasably holding the binding in aclosed position, a [73] Ass'gnee' Mnche" Thyez France screw foradjusting the force of the spring, and means [22] Filed: May 2, 1974 fordisplaying the adjustment including two members movable relative to oneanother as a function of the [21] Appl' 466504 setting of the screw, thefirst member covering the second member and being provided with aplurality of [30] Foreign Application Priority Data discrete openings,and the second member having a May 11, 1973 France 73.17222 plurality ofdiscrete marks which are Selectively visible through said openings indifferent relative posi- 5 us CLO 280/11 35 T 116/135, H6/DIG H tions ofsaid members to provide indications repre- [51] Int. Cl. A63c 9/08Seming the Settings Said openings include at least one 58 Field ofSearch 280/1 1.35 T; 116/135, row of a plurality of like Openingsaligned along the 11 11 133 134 direction of relative movement of themembers and 7 said marks include at least one row of a plurality of 5References Cited marks aligned along said direction with said row ofUNITED STATES PATENTS openings. Adjacent openings in said row are spaced3, 079 11/19 M k 280 H 1; T apart by at least the length of an openmgalong sald 'ggg M 1 5: 280;] T direction multiplied by the number orpositions of said 3B7I225 8/1967 smolkirxiiiifi I: 280/l 1135 T memberseach corresponding to 3.489,]22 l/l970 Schweizer ll6/l35 PrimaryExaminer-R0bert R. Song Auorney, Agent, or Firm-Robert E. Burns;Emmanuel J. Lobato; Bruce L. Adams 9 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures Ill/lRAJEHIEBFEB; Mars 2,. 865,390 SHEET 1 OF 6 PATENTED 1 I975 3.865390SHEET 6 BF 6 FIG.?

SK! BINDING The invention relates to ski safety bindings and isparticularly concerned'with the display of the setting of a spring, orin general any elastic or other energy storage means, which acts with anadjustable force to releasably hold the binding in a closed orboot-gripping position.

US. Pat; No. 3,172,677 describes a display device formed by a fixedgraduated plate past which an end of an adjusting le'ver' moves, theother end of the lever being formed as a cam acting on the compressionof a spring. Another display device described in US. Pat. No. 3,172,677is formed by a regulating button having peripheral graduationscooperating with a fixed mark, this buttonactuating a coaxial cam forsetting the compression of a spring. Although in both of these devicesthere is an amplification of the displacement of the part providing thedisplay compared to the displacement of the part compressing the spring,reading of the indications, which must be placed side-by-side on thesame part' or element, is hindered by their reduced dimen- -sions.

Another known display device consists of a fixed window through whichcan be seen a rotatable wheel controlling the spring compression bymeans of a gearreducing mechanism. Such devices are complicated andcostly and also have the disadvantage that the indications which appearsuccessively through the window must all be placed on the same wheel andare therefore of limited dimensions.

French Patent No. 1,447,799 describes a display device formed by a pinfixed on a nut screwed on an adjustment screw for the spring of abinding. This pin engages in an oblong slot and serves both to preventrotation of the nut and to provide an indication of its axial position.This device is simple, but is even more difficult to read than thepreceding devices since there is no amplification of the movement of thepin.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,489,122 discloses a device for setting and indicatingthe relative positions of ski binding members in which perforations areprovided in a cover of the binding and a single colored area, visible ascolor markings through the perforations, is provided on a plate disposedunder and movable relative to the cover. As the binding setting istightened, the colored area becomes visible through one, then two, thenthree perforations. Since the relative movement of the two membersbetween each setting is small, the successive openings are staggeredtransverse to the direction of relative movement, and the colored areais provided with a stepped shape. The spacing of the windows along thedirection of movement is thus small, which limits legibility of theindications.

An object of the invention is to provide a device for displaying thesettings of a ski binding which has two members movable relative to oneanother by small amounts to provide, without a need for a mechanicalgear system, indications the spacing or the size of which isconsiderably greater than the amount of the displacement whereby readingof the indications is facilitated.

According to the invention, a ski safety binding comprises energystorage means for releasably holding the binding in a closed position,means for adjusting said energy storage means to adjust the forceholding the binding in the closed position, and means for displaying theadjustment of said energy storage means. Said display means includefirst and second members movable relative to one another along a givendirection and means for moving said members between a plurality ofdiscrete relative positions as a function of the setting of saidadjustment means. The first member covers the second member and isprovided with a plurality of discrete openings, and the second memberhas a plurality of discrete marks which are selectively visible throughsaid openings in different relative positions of said members to provideindications representing the settings of said adjustment means. Saidopenings include at least'one row of a plurality of like openingsaligned along said given direction and said marks include at least onerow of a plurality of marks aligned along said given direction with saidrow of openings, adjacent openings in said row being spaced apartby atleast the length of an opening along said given direction multiplied bythe number of discrete relative positions of said members eachcorresponding to an indication.

Said marks may have any appropriate dimensions, shape and color and mayin particular be oh luminescent paint of a color contrasting to thecolor of said second member.

The accompanying drawings show, by way of example, several embodimentsof the invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an axial cross-section of a binding secured on a ski;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are schematic plan views of a first form of display devicein two different settings;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are schematic plan views of another form of display devicein two different settings;

FIG. 6 is an axial cross-section of another binding secured on a ski;

FIG. 7 is a cross-section showing a detail of a varied form of displaydevice; and

FIG. 8 is a cross-section of part of another binding secured on a ski.

The binding shown in FIG. 1 comprises a base plate 1 supporting a shaft2 perpendicular to plate 1 which is secured to a ski 3 by screws 4. Acasing 5 is pivotally mounted on shaft 2 by means of a bearing 6A.Casing 5 is held on base plate 1 by a plate 8 with an axial slot 6 ofsufficient width to closely fit in a groove 7 of shaft 2, this plate 8being held on casing 5 by screws 9. The casing 5 has an inner housing 10for the shaft 2 and an adjusting screw 11 which is slidably mountedalong the axis of easing 5. A nut 12 on screw 11 is held againstrotation by cooperation of its face 13 with face 14 of plate 8, but canmove axially along screw 11 during rotation thereof. Between the screw12 and face 15 of easing 5 is disposed a helicoidal compression spring16 biasing nut 12 and hence its supporting screw 11 in the direction ofarrow Fl. Shaft 2 has a recess 17 receiving a ball 18 which is held inthis recess, under the action of spring 16, by a recess 19in the end ofscrew 11. Casing 5 includes a jaw 20 adapted to hold the sole 21 of aboot against vertical and lateral displacement.

In operation, under the action of spring 16 against nut 12, the screw 11is held pressed against the ball 18 lodged in groove 17 of shaft 2. Theentire casing 5 is thus held against rotation about shaft 2 so that theboot sole 21 held by jaw 20 is prevented from moving laterally. Thebinding only moves out of this closed or boot-retaining position whenthe boot exerts a sufficient lateral force to overcome the resistance ofspring 16 involved in moving ball 18 out of recess 17 by axiallypressing back the screw 11, which enables pivoting of casing about shaft2. The screw 11 thus enables adjustment of the compression of spring 16and setting of the force required to release the binding. In the upperpart of casing 5 is a device for displaying the degree of compression ofspring 16, formed by a member 22 fixed to and forming part of the coverof casing 5 and a movable member 23 fixed on nut 12. Member 23 is placedunder member 22 from the point of view of a person looking down onto thebinding. The fixed member 22 includes a plurality of suitably arrangeddiscrete openings, and movable member 23 a plurality of discrete markswhose dimensions correspond to those of the openings and are arranged tobe selectively visible through the openings in different discreterelative positions of the members.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show one form of display device including a number n 4openings 35, 36, 37, 38 disposed in a single row parallel to thedirection of movement of member 23 (i.e., to screw 11, FIG. 1). Besideeach opening is placed a corresponding reference indication, namely thenumbers 1, 2, 3 and 4, the number n of openings being chosen accordingto the desired number of reference indications. Member 23 carries fourmarks 45, 46, 47, 48, Le, the same number n as the number of openings.These marks, shown in hatched lines, are disposed in a single rowparallel to and aligned with the row of openings. The distance d betweensuccessive openings is equal to at least the length L of an opening,measured along the direction of movement of member 23, multiplied by thenumber n of openings and marks each corresponding to an indication, andthe distance between successive marks is equal to (nl d/n. In theparticular example shown, d is at least 4L, and the distance betweensuccessive marks is %d.

In the position shown in FIG. 3, when the mark 45 is visible throughopening 35, corresponding to the indication 1, all of the other marksare staggered in relation to the respective openings and are thusconcealed. By turning the screw 11 to shift nut 12 and member 23 by anamount L, and vary the compression of spring 16 by a correspondingamount, the device adopts the position shown in FIG. 3 in which onlymark 46 is visible through opening 36 corresponding to the indication 2,and all of the other marks are concealed. Similarly, as the member 23 isshifted by further amounts L, the marks 47 and 48 will successively andsingly be visible through the respective openings 37 and 38.

Since the distance between successive openings is in this example equalto 4L, and the indications can have a height approaching 4L, it can beseen that for a shift of screw 11 and member 23 by an amount L, it ispossible to obtain an apparent shift of the visible mark through adistance 4L, and the visible mark is associated with a large and clearlylegible indication.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show a second form of display device which may be embodiedin the binding of FIG. 1. The fixed member 22 includes several rows ofopenings, each row being disposed along an axis parallel to thedirection of movement of member 23. Movable member 23 includes as manyrows of marks as there are rows of openings in member 22, each row ofmarks being aligned with a row of orifices and the number of marks ofeach row being at least equal to the number of openings of thecorresponding row. Several marks from one or several rows form areference indication of given configuration and all of the pointsforming a single indication appear simultaneously through thecorresponding orifices. The distance d between two successive orificesof the same row is at least equal to the dimension of the orificemeasured along the direction of movement of member 23 multiplied by thenumber of indications previewed. The distance between two successivemarks of the same row is at most equal to d and at least equal to thedimension L of the orifice.

Hence, in the example shown, member 22 has fourteen rows of openings,some of which include only a single opening. Member 23 also has fourteenrows of marks each aligned with a row of orifices. The openings ofmember 22 are designated by reference numerals 5] to 68.

On FIG. 7, marks appear simultaneously in openings 54, 55, 57, 59, 61,63 and 67, as indicated by hatched lines, this configuration forming theindication 1." The other openings are not used for this setting, i.e.the visible non-marked surface of member 23 is of the same appearance asthe member 22, so that it is difficult to discern these openings. In theexample shown, five indications are previewed (although, for the sake ofclarity, the openings and marks for only two indications are shown), andthe distance d between successive openings of the same row is equal tofive times the dimension L of the openings measured along the directionof movement of member 23; this is so for the openings 52, 60 and 67; and53, 59 and 68, and the distance between the corresponding successivemarks is also d 5L.

Taking the position of FIG. 7 as the initial position, the indication 1is visible and all of the marks which are not required for theconfiguration l are masked from view by the member 22. When the screw 11is acted upon, it compresses spring 16 and moves nut 12 and member 23.The originally visible marks forming the figure I move with member 23along direction F3 relative to member 22 until the two members arrive atthe position shown in FIG. 8. The marks which had previously beenvisible as the figure l are masked from view by member 22 and the marksnow visible through openings 51, 52, 53, 54, 56, 58, 59, 60, 62, 64, 65,66, 67 and 68 form an indication in the configuration of the number 2.These marks are shown by cross-hatched lines in FIG. 8. It is observedthat for a displacement of screw 12 and member 23 by an amount L, thevisible indication changes from 1 to 2 and these indications have aheight several times greater than L, generally speaking at least nL,which renders them easily visible. In fact the height of the indicationsmay be quite independent of the value of the shift L. It should be notedthat in the example of FIGS. 7 and 8, only the openings and marksenabling the numbers 1 and 2 to appear are shown, whereas the distance dbetween successive openings of a row is equal to SL, which will enablefive indications to appear successively.

According to a variation of this embodiment, successive marks of one rowand/or juxtaposed marks of several rows are joined together to form asingle mark of greater area. The two marks appearing successively inopening 54 and those appearing successively in opening 59 are examplesof joined marks whose separation" along the direction of movement isequal to L.

According to another variation of the previous embodiments, an opticalmagnifying device is disposed on at least one of the fixed and mobilemembers facing each opening and/or each mark. FIG. 7 shows a displaydevice in which an optical magnifying device is provided above fixedmember 22. This magnifying device is for example formed by a singleplate 72 of transparent plastic material including substantiallysemispherical protuberances 73 each forming a converging lens over anopening 74. Each visible mark is thus magnified, thus facilitatingreading.

In yet another variation, the cover member with the opening is mobileand kinematically connected to the adjustment means, and the innermember carrying the marks is fixed to the main frame or casing of thebind- In a further variation of the preceding embodiments, the member 22with the openings and member 23 with the marks are both movable alongthe same path either in the same direction or, as shown in FIG. 6, inopposite directions. In this arrangement, the screw 11 includes not onlythe previously described threaded part on which the nut 12 supportingmember 23 is disposed, but also a second threaded part 75, disposedconcentric to the first but at the end of the screw towards ball 18,this second part having a thread of opposite hand to the first part andwith an equal pitch, as shown, or a different pitch. Threaded part 75supports a nut 76 ,which, like nut 12, can move axially along screw 11and is held against rotation by the surface 14 of casing l. Member 22including the openings is fixed on this nut 76.

In operation, when the screw 11 is rotated to adjust spring 16, nut 12and member 23 move for example in direction F5 and nut 76 and element 22move in the opposite direction F6. There is thus a greater relativedisplacement of members 22 and 23 than the displacement of nut 12compressing spring 16, in a proportion that can be modified by choice ofthe pitch of nut 76. All of the other elements are the same as in thepreviously described embodiments.

According to another variation of the described embodiments, shown inFIG. 8, the mobile member instead of moving with a rectilinear movementrelative to the fixed member is rotatable. Hence, in the example shown,element 23 carrying the marks is fixed on an outer face of the bindingcasing, and the openings are provided in aflange 70 integral withsetting screw 11.

According to a variation of the second embodiment, each opening and/oreach of the marks able to appear in said opening is divided into twoparts; possibly, only certain openings and certain marks are thusdivided into two or more parts. This enables if required a betterconfiguration of the indications to be provided.

The invention is applicable to both front or toe bindings and to rear orheel bindings and may be used whenever it is required to provide anindication of the release effort which has to be read clearly.

What is claimed is:

l. A ski safety binding comprising energy storage means for releasablyholding the binding in a closed position, means for adjusting saidenergy storage means to adjust the force holding the binding in theclosed position, and means for displaying the adjustment of said energystorage means, said display means including first and second membersmovable relative to one another along a given direction, means formoving said members between a plurality of discrete relative positionsas a function of the setting of said adjustment means, the first membercovering the second member and being provided with a plurality ofdiscrete openings, and the second member having a plurality of discretemarks which are selectively visible through said openings in differentrelative positions of said members to provide indications representingthe settings of said adjustment means, said openings including at leastone row of a plurality of like openings aligned along said givendirection and said marks including at least one row of a plurality ofmarks aligned along said given direction with said row of openings,adjacent openings in said row being spaced apart by at least the lengthof an opening along said given direction multiplied by the number ofdiscrete relative positions of said members each corresponding to anindication.

2. A ski binding according to claim 1, comprising a single row of nopenings and a single row ofmarks, successive openings being spacedapart by a distance d and successive marks by a distance (nl )'d/n.

3. A ski binding according to claim 1, including several rows ofopenings and corresponding rows of points, each of said indicationsbeing formed of points in one or more rows able to appear simultaneouslythrough corresponding orifices, the distance between two successivepoints of a row in which the openings are spaced apart by a distance dbeing at most d and at least equal to the length of the orifices alongsaid given direction.

4. A ski binding according to claim 3, in which at least one of anopening and a point able to appear in said opening is divided into atleast two parts.

5. A ski binding according to claim 3, in which adjacent points in atleast one row are joined together.

6. A ski binding according to claim 1, comprising optical means formagnifying points visible through said openings.

7. A ski safety binding comprising energy storage means for releasablyholding the binding in a closed position, means for adjusting saidenergy storage means to adjust the force holding the binding in theclosed position, and means for displaying the adjustment of said energystorage means, said display means including first and second membersmovable relative to one another along a given direction, means formoving said members between a plurality of discrete relative positionsas a function of the setting of said adjustment means, the first membercovering the second member and being provided with a plurality ofdiscrete openings, and the second member having a plurality of discretemarks which are selectively visible through said openings in differentrelative positions of said members to provide indications representingthe settings of said adjustment means, said openings including aplurality of like openings spaced apart from one another along saidgiven direction and said marks including a corresponding plurality oflike marks each aligned along said given direction with at least acorresponding one of said openings, adjacent openings being spaced apartalong said given direction by a multiple of the length of an openingalong said given direction, and the spacing of adjacent points alongsaid given direction being less than the spacing of the correspondingadjacent openings along said given direction by an amount correspondingto the relative displacement of said members between adjacent discreterelative positions whereby upon relative displacement of said memberssuccessive respective ones of said points appear singly in correspondingsuccessive respective ones of said openings.

8. A ski binding according to claim 7, comprising a single row of nopenings and a single row of n marks aligned along said given directionwith said openings, successive openings being spaced apart by a distanced equal to at least the length of an opening along said given directionmultiplied by n, and successive marks being spaced apart by a distance(nl )-d/n.

9. A ski safety binding comprising energy storage means for releasablyholding the binding in a closed position, means for adjusting saidenergy storage means to adjust the force holding the binding in theclosed position, and means for displaying the adjustment of said energystorage means, said display means including first and second membersmovable relative to one another along a given direction, means formoving said members between a plurality of discrete relative positionsas a function of the setting of said adjustment means, the first membercovering the second member and being provided with an array of aplurality of discrete openings, and the second member having a pluralityof discrete marks which are selectively visible through openings of saidarray in different relative positions of said members to provideindications representing the settings of said adjustment means, saidmarks including a plurality of groups of marks corresponding to groupsof openings of said array, each of said groups of marks andcorresponding openings having a distinctive shape forming an indicationwhose size along said direction is at least the length of an openingalong said direction multiplied by the number of discrete relativepositions of said members each corresponding to an indication.

1. A ski safety binding comprising energy storage means for releasablyholding the binding in a closed position, means for adjusting saidenergy storage means to adjust the force holding the binding in theclosed position, and means for displaying the adjustment of said energystorage means, said display means including first and second membersmovable relative to one another along a given direction, means formoving said members between a plurality of discrete relative positionsas a function of the setting of said adjustment means, the first membercovering the second member and being provided with a plurality ofdiscrete openings, and the second member having a plurality of discretemarks which are selectively visible through said openings in differentrelative positions of said members to provide indications representingthe settings of said adjustment means, said openings including at leastone row of a plurality of like openings aligned along said givendirection and said marks including at least one row of a plurality ofmarks aligned along said given direction with said row of openings,adjacent openings in said row being spaced apart by at least the lengthof an opening along said given direction multiplied by the number ofdiscrete relative positions of said members each corresponding to anindication.
 2. A ski binding according to claim 1, comprising a singlerow of n openings and a single row of n marks, successive openings beingspaced apart by a distance d and successive marks by a distance(n-1).d/n.
 3. A ski binding according to claim 1, including several rowsof openings and corresponding rows of points, each of said indicationsbeing formed of points in one or more rows able to appear simultaneouslythrough corresponding orifices, the distance between two successivepoints of a row in which the openings are spaced apart by a distance dbeing at most d and at least equal to the length of the orifices alongsaid given direction.
 4. A ski binding according to claim 3, in which atleast one of an opening and a point able to appear in said opening isdivided into at least two parts.
 5. A ski binding according to claim 3,in which adjacent points in at least one row are joined together.
 6. Aski binding according to claim 1, comprising optical means formagnifying points visible through said openings.
 7. A ski safety bindingcomprising energy storage means for releasably holding the binding in aclosed position, means for adjusting said energy storage means to adjustthe force holding the binding in the closed position, and means fordisplaying the adjustment of said energy storage means, said displaymeans including first and second members movable relative to one anotheralong a given direction, means for moving said members between aplurality of discrete relative positions as a function of the setting ofsaid adjustment means, the first member covering the second member andbeing provided with a plurality of discrete openings, and the secondmember having a plurality of discrete marks which are selectivelyvisible through said openings in different relative positions of saidmembers to provide indications representing the settings of saidadjustment means, said openings including a plurality of like openingsspaced apart from one another along said given direction and said marksincluding a corresponding plurality of like marks each aligned alongsaid given direction with at least a corresponding one of said openings,adjacent openings being spaced apart along said given direction by amultiple of the length of an opening along said given direction, and thespacing of adjacent points along said given direction being less thanthe spacing of the corresponding adjacent openings along said givendirection by an amount corresponding to the relative displacement ofsaid members between adjacent discrete relative positions whereby uponrelative displacement of said members successive respective ones of saidpoints appear singly in corresponding successive respective ones of saidopenings.
 8. A ski binding according to claim 7, comprising a single rowof n openings and a single row of n marks aligned along said givendirection with said openings, successive openings being spaced apart bya distance d equal to at least the length of an opening along said givendirection multiplied by n, and successive marks being spaced apart by adistance (n-1).d/n.
 9. A ski safety binding comprising energy storagemeans for releasably holding the binding in a closed position, means foradjusting said energy storage means to adjust the force holding thebinding in the closed position, and means for displaying the adjustmentof said energy storage means, said display means including first andsecond members movable relative to one another along a given direction,means for moving said members between a plurality of discrete relativepositions as a function of the setting of said adjustment means, thefirst member covering the second member and being provided with an arrayof a plurality of discrete openings, and the second member having aplurality of discrete marks which are selectively visible throughopenings of said array in different relative positions of said membersto provide indications representing the settings of said adjustmentmeans, said marks including a plurality of groups of marks correspondingto groups of openings of said array, each of said groups of marks andcorresponding openings having a distinctIve shape forming an indicationwhose size along said direction is at least the length of an openingalong said direction multiplied by the number of discrete relativepositions of said members each corresponding to an indication.